site redesign - is it going in the right direction?

[DomainsUnlimited]

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Hi all
not finished yet but any further changes required?

http://www.InternetRetailer.co.uk

[stevey]

I don't like it.

The overall design doesn't grab me and to me it looks spammy.

stevey

[OME]

I agree - it says Spam from a mile away.

Theres nothing wrong with what you're trying to do, but you need to break things into categories - rather than having a mish-mash of stuff on the front page. No-one will go beyond a quick scan of the page.

[chrisf]

I agree the site does look spammy and a little too intense on the eye.

One of the BEST web sites on the web for inspiration in real usable design is www.coolhomepages.com. It's full of commercial designs, not that student driven 'creative' stuff that only a few people 'get'.

Another good site is www.eleated.com. A really old but gold site. It's got some good solid templates to get you going.

The design of a site should be search engine/usability friendly...but dont forget some style.

Chris

[chrisf]

http://elated.com/

[Brett]

Um - what does it do?

It looks to me to be a load of spammy phrases with adverts next to them? If I stumbled upon your site I'd be hitting the back button quite quickly at the moment because it is not immediatley obvious why I'd want to stay.

There seems to be a million links pointing to hundreds of different types of site - your not starting another million links page are you ;-)

If I were you I'd make more pages rather than cramming everything on to one page and I'd make the logo and top of the page say exactly what the site is about and what it will do for me.

Sorry to be so negative.

Brett

[DomainsUnlimited]

Oh bugger!! back to t' drawing board again Arkwright!

...and you all read the Life of an Internet Retailer section? original content which is semi-autobiographical by using myself in the 3rd person?

thank you to those that replied...

anyone else wish to condemn me to the corner of the classroom with the dunce cap?

[Ste]

Go-on I will jump on and have a say, With a good domain name like you have, I was expecting a decent online shop of some sorts. Get rid of the colours and revert to a ‘standard’ white bg with colour splashes and create your own logo/branding.

The days have long gone (I missed them as well!) when you could slap up a few links on a page, call it a website and make sales. Every time I see a website like that, it makes me think that for someone to produce a site like that, with a view to it making money, must be a cookie stuffer.

On a plus, if you can take the ‘criticism’ and still look forward, then you will be making money one day. Just don’t give up trying to find the ‘idea’ that will make you money, you will hit it on the head one day if you persist. (but a decent site design is a good place to start )

BTW I could not find any section on the Life of an Internet Retailer.

[stevey]

Don't give up. You just need to mature in your designs. We all started out like this, well I did. But you get better the more you do it. It's like buying a house and renovating it and doing it up. The more you do it (not that I've done it much! LOL!) , the better you get and the more acquired taste you develop when you go onto the new house, etc.

Has to be a simile or a metapphor in there somewhere?

Anyway you get the drift.

stevey

[Retail Creations]

The only thing that struck me was what an odd combination of subjects are covered

[DomainsUnlimited]

thanks guys

STE btw "Life of etc2 is actually on the home page if you scroll down a bit...

Stevey ..yep I get the drift..cheers mate
funny you should mention simile and metaphor I have some sinteresting domains...but on the literary front in the correct context
simile my site is as good as Blunketts resignation statement ....... ... ........ ..... .. ...... ..... ..
metaphor my site is doggy do

[DomainsUnlimited]

Hi Retail
the reason behind this is..I have contacted the various Affiliate Network contacts sending them all PMs - some have replied some not - to ascertain whether it is better for me to have hundreds of websites relating to the collection of domains I have (a le Edmund et al) or should I have 1 site that they all forward to taking snippetts from each. I ran with the latter option as currently, qotsa.co.uk (yes the band Queens of The Stone Age), auctioncars.co.uk, lhdcars.co.uk, jobx.co.uk, alliteration.co.uk, gadgetsales.co.uk etc etc a complete variety - all the ones I have analysed to have been getting the most click thrus currently.....
I have had separate scripts before - had 40 separate sites with Espotting - couple of years ago - then increased to 100 with Mirago - then added some then all with Sedo...then decided I could do what they all had done - basically add links to Merchants and get a better kickback on commission than they all have offered...

What do you all think?
Have various separate sites covering each subject (ie property, motors, travel, holiday, music, domains, gadets, hosting etc etc) or 1 with say 25 pages max ?

http:www.InternetRetailer.co.uk

[ArmsteR]

With a very good general domain name like you've got i dont think it would matter that much as long as there was some correlation between the topics. The point it other than the colour scheme which i dont like much the main problem with your site it the organisation of it. Before even doing the design you need to do something like a brainstorm to organise your sites hirearchy. Once you have COMPLETELY nailed this down by going through key word generators (google has a decent tool for this) and your own lists of whats needed it is then that you start on the site design. How can you design a site without the knowledge of the menu/browsing system you will use and you can't know this until you know what will definatively be in your site. Theres plenty of tools out there and I think (from the cluttered impression I got) that you could have a good site if it was just organised.

When i first got into site design I started off with a front page design then though what the *&%$ am I going to have in it. Now I know the design doesn't matter its the ease of use and the quick availability of information the customer wants that counts. (although i'm thinking of redesigning my site as the hierarchy is a little stretched)

Hope this helps

PS MindJet Mind manager is a good tool to help you brain storm. send me a message if you want any more advice/reviews/guides/whatever

Dave

http://www.exquisite-jewellery.com

[chrisf]

Now I know the design doesn't matter its the ease of use and the quick availability of information the customer wants that counts.

Isnt that what design is?

[ArmsteR]

Not really,

Think of the mighty google, design wise its basic. Very basic. but its highly functional and thats why its become the largest search engine.